Under 18’s to Be Banned From Swedish Solariums?

Children and young teens are to banned from Sweden’s solariums if a new government study gets its way. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority wants under 18’s to be banned from using sunbeds.

Ulf Wester, from the authority, says the difference between lying on a sunbed and the beach is that on the beach you only expose one part of the body at a time to the sun’s rays, while in a sunbed you have 100% exposure.

And the authority has been backed up by the government’s proposed new national cancer strategy. The proposal’s author, Kerstin Wigzell, told Swedish agency TT that at 18 young adults have legal responsibility for their own actions. She adds that there is evidence to prove that sunbed users are overrepresented in skin cancer statistics. The World Health Organisation also recommends banning the under 18’s from solariums.